Michael Kearney of Nashville Wins $1 Million in 'Gold Rush' Finale.

Kearney Becomes First Champion of Online Reality Game from AOL and Mark Burnett 

$1 Million Finale Played Out on Set of Entertainment Tonight; Webisode Available On-Demand on AOL.com

DULLES, Va. & LOS ANGELES -- Michael Kearney of Nashville, Tenn., nabbed the top prize of $1 million in the Gold Rush (www.aol.com/goldrush) finale after dominating his competition in the groundbreaking pop culture contest from AOL and Mark Burnett. Kearney, who also won $100,000 during the qualifying Gold Competition held in Atlanta, becomes the first $1 million winner in the online reality game. The finale, conducted on the set of Entertainment Tonight, can be seen today (Thursday, November 9) on ET and on AOL.COM/GOLDRUSH (www.aol.com/goldrush).

Kearney, a former child prodigy and the world's youngest college graduate at age 10, defeated the two other finalists, Matt Green (Indialantic, Fla.) and Ali Stone (Washington, DC), during the $1 million finale round.

"Life has always been weird for me. I graduated college at 10, so I was always the weird kid. Now I'm the weird kid with money."

Kearney's strategy of dominating the first round paid off immensely. During the round, contestants were asked to identify celebrity photos. The first player to buzz in and correctly name three moved onto the final round.

After winning the first round competition, Kearney advanced to the final round, and earned the right to skip the second round competition where Stone and Green faced off in a high-speed round of "Picture This," where the players had to identify the name of the movie or television show being described in each image. Green edged out Stone to move on and face Kearney in the final showdown.

However, Green was no match for Kearney during third and final pop culture trivia round, when Kearney swept the category by answering all of the questions correctly with his lightning quick reflexes to the buzzer - not giving Green a single opportunity to answer any of the questions.

"I expected to go home during every phase of this game. I made a conscious effort not to think about the money and spend what I didn't have," said Kearney after being declared the pop culture champion. "But now that I have it, I plan to share it with my friends and family. One of the first things I plan to do is fly my parents down from Juneau, Alaska, for the winter since I haven't seen them in a while."

Kearney, who at 22 already has three degrees and is currently working on a doctorate in chemistry, graduated high school at age 6, earned a BA in Anthropology from the University of South Alabama at 10, a master's degree in chemistry from Middle Tennessee State University at 14, and a master's degree in Computer Science from Vanderbilt University at 18. He is currently completing a doctorate in chemistry at Middle Tennessee State University, where he also works as a teaching assistant in the chemistry department.

Beginning today (Thursday, November 9), the $1 million finale round of Gold Rush will air, free on demand, on AOL.COM/GOLDRUSH (www.aol.com/goldrush) and throughout the month. The winner of Gold Rush[TM] will also be announced tonight (Thursday, November 9) on Entertainment Tonight.

"We broke new territory by bringing a fast-paced, multi-media reality game to the masses and now someone just got rich," said Gold Rush producer Mark Burnett. "We look forward to launching another exciting season of Gold Rush next year and make yet another lucky person a millionaire."

"This is definitely a watershed moment," added Kevin Conroy, EVP of AOL. "More than 11 million people experienced an entirely new kind of reality game and we're looking forward to reaching even more people with Gold Rush II."

Log onto www.aol.com/goldrush for more details on the game.

About Mark Burnett

Mark Burnett is the leading producer of reality content for both primetime television and the internet. Mark Burnett has revolutionized television with hits such as Eco-Challenge, Survivor, The Apprentice, The Contender, Rock Star, Martha Stewart in syndication and On the Lot. Mark Burnett has also partnered with AOL on the eagerly anticipated adventure Gold Rush, the first-ever unscripted project to be produced exclusively for the internet. Mark Burnett has also successfully reintroduced product placement as an integral part of each of his shows and his companies have garnered a total of 43 Emmy[R] nominations since 2001. Mark Burnett was listed as the #1 Most Valuable Player by TV Guide and in Time Magazine's Top 100 most influential people in the world today.

About AOL

AOL is a global Web services company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software and services, runs the country's largest Internet access business, and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC is based in Dulles, Virginia. AOL and its subsidiaries also have operations in Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at AOL.com.

For free hi-res stills of Michael Kearney and all previous Gold Rush winners, please log onto www.aolepk.com/goldrush.